The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1887-01-03

prevent his reaping a harvest according to
ms sowing There is nothing more per
n na,;on than that papal theory of sal
vauon, TOO often countenanced by some
Protestant preachers, who should know better.
that oy looking at the crucfix held by priest
oeiere the dying mans CLASSY eye or ejaculat-
ang, LORD. De merciful to me. a sinner, just as
vicious life goes out, opens the celestial gates
10 tne viiest of earth's wretches, landing him
on tne heaven side of that great gulf which
priesIy ingenuity has built between heaven and
ne.i' we know that he Is not safe if ne happens
NOT 20 die at the time provided for by this
unscrlptural process of preparation. We need
not olsparage death-bed repentance nor pro-
nounce it spurious; but We all know
.nas very few who recover from what
was expected to be death bed
ever walk long in the new life thew
progressed to have obtained. Now does DYING
does the mere act of going out Of this tent"
MAKE such change in the capabilities of the
soul-of the real man-that it cannot relapse
into its former character an hour. a day . week
or an age thereafter2 1t is entirely gratuitous
10 assume that soul environments, out of the
oooy are more friendly to sou; purity than the
environments in the body. We know nothing
ABOUT soul environments or soul capabilities in
tnat other life. Certainly the Bible is silent on
the SUBJECT and our experience is equally 81
lent. But we do know that here evil men
Shd se ,hs wax worse and worse.
brighter, and the habit of virtue strengthens
with increasing years. That the mere act of
oylng can. OF itself, change the character of the
man. Is repudiated by every one; hence we sup
the wicked waxing worse and worse. and the
righteous increasing in the ways of righteous
ness But it is assumed that this wicked char
acter-tnls West sinner-may arrest this down
Ward momentum at any point this side the
actual leaving of his ''tent" Let US concede
that he may. II he may a week, day, an hour
an instant before, why may not the same
,nteliigent being do as much instant, an
acts in t hay ho or al an ons age afters He
independent of the body, anyway. The body
neither sins nor repents; 1t is the act Of the soul
In any case. Let US not be Mortified at this pos
sloliity, because 1t is equally possible for the
good man to cross to the other side 1t is only
CARRYING the papal doctrine of falling from grace
to Its logical CONCLUSIONS dogma case, fully
preserved In the Church Of England and from it
transferred to our own church, as some other
unscrlptural papal inventions Do not some of
US preach that the wife may SO repent
and believe that he may 60 straight to heaven.
TO the society OF the good of ali ages and Of his
GEAR departed companion, unless, perchance,
after years OF Christian living, she may for
the pains of DEATH in her last hour, as our burial
service has 1t, have fallen from God and is her
self on the hellward side Of that impossible di-
vldlng gulf. and there to remain forever? Now,
1t lifelong Christian may cat the last hour for
the pains of DEATH fall from God" why NAV he
not, an hour later, year later, age or ages,
iaterY Out upon such wicked and foolish per-
version OF the truth The physical pains Of
dying hour cannot affect the moral character Of
servant of the living God, or send him hence
from God; neither can gazing at a crucifx, nor
calculating prayer, in the supreme moment,
ut the soul of demon incarnate for the society
OF the blessed. Let one who breaches that a
lifelong sinner may repent at the last moment,
and 60 to heaven, urge against the possibility of
repentance and reformation after death that it is
dangerous doctrine to teach because it encour-
ages procrastination. How can it more than
the doctrine of death-bed repentance How can it
more than all of that style of preaching that
speaks of life period of probation in which
to prepare for dying? The truth Of the question
of future repentance and reformation is that the
Bible is wholly silent on the subject, but that
analogy shows that it is possible but hi ghly i'm
probable. There, as here, evil men and seducers
are likely to wax worse and worse, while the
child Of God may be expected to become more
and more like the All Father